We live in a world that loves to sort people into camps. Old versus young. Experienced versus idealistic. Seasoned versus entitled. I have never bought into that, and the longer I lead, the less patience I have for it. Some of my sharpest lessons have come from people younger than me, people who think differently, challenge my assumptions and see possibilities I never would have noticed. When we only surround ourselves with people who think and act like us, we stop growing. And yet as a society, that is precisely what we do with entire generations.
Which is exactly why I am tired of the generational blame game.
Every generation looks at the one coming up behind them and decides that things are going to “hell in a handbasket”. That the next group doesn’t have what it takes and, so far, every generation has been wrong.
Baby Boomers catch a lot of heat today. But back then, they looked at the world they inherited and saw injustice running through the core of it. People were unsafe, voices were silenced, and they chose to do something about it. They mobilized civil rights movements, marched for women’s equality, and helped ignite the gay rights movement, planting seeds for battles that are still being waged today.
Gen X does not get talked about enough, which is fitting, because they never really cared about the spotlight. They pioneered work-life balance before it was a movement, built their own path without waiting for anyone to clear it, and now hold more global leadership roles than any other generation. They have always known what they believed, and they’ve never needed you to agree with them.
Millennials pushed back on “because that is how we have always done it” and demanded that organizations lead with purpose. That shift made workplaces better for everyone, including the people who resisted it most.
And Gen Z, the most diverse, digitally fluent, values-driven generation to enter the workforce, is not lazy or entitled. They are ambitious, and they are not willing to sacrifice their humanity to prove it. If that sounds like entitlement to you, I encourage you to look again.
Everyone has the potential to add value to the world and to society. Blaming an entire generation for the problems we face is lazy thinking, and every moment we spend pointing fingers is a moment we are not spending on solutions. I believe every action we take moves the world in a direction. When we waste our energy on blame, that is the direction we are choosing.
We stand on ground others cleared, breathe air others fought to keep clean and walk through doors others spent their lives prying open. None of us has ever done it perfectly, nor without mistakes. And yet we have all created steppingstones.
The kids are alright. And for what it is worth, so were we.
